Agenda item - To receive and consider a report from the Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing

Agenda item

To receive and consider a report from the Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing

Up to 30 minutes is allowed for this item; no longer than 10 minutes for  presentation of the report and then up to 3 minutes for each question to be put and answered.

 

Minutes:

Councillors Thompson and Mallett asked the Monitoring Officer whether it was appropriate for this report to be considered in light of it being deferred at previous meetings.  It was noted that the inclusion of Community Safety within the portfolio had been removed. 

 

As the report had been included within the additional papers, the Vice Chairman agreed to a five minute adjournment to allow Members time to familiarise themselves with the report.

 

The Portfolio Holder for Health and Wellbeing, Councillor M. A. Sherrey, presented her annual report and in so doing, highlighted a number of areas:

 

·         A new call handling platform had been installed for Lifeline

·         Over 250 new customers had signed up to the Lifeline service.

·         The Bromsgrove Partnership in the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) for the district.  It brings together organisations from the public, private, voluntary and community sectors.

·         The Partnership operates a Strategic Board with a number of Theme and Sub Groups underneath it and made up from representatives from a number of organisations.

·         Community Wellbeing Theme Group – covers Health and Wellbeing, Children and Young People and Ageing Well.

·         Connecting Families – this approach, which the Partnership was leading on, was now starting to be rolled-out in Bromsgrove.  The initial focus being on falls for the elderly which were the largest cause of emergency hospital admissions in the district. 

·         Safeguarding – as a Ward Councillor or representative of the Council everyone had a duty to act if they had concerns.  Training had been provided for all Members in respect of this and it was noted that there had been limited attendance at the sessions provided.

·         Early Help – this had been renamed as Parenting and Family Support.  The contracts with Worcestershire County Council had been in place since December 2016.  Leaflets in respect of the service had been placed in the Members’ Room.

 

Following presentation of the report Members discussed a number of areas in more detail, these included:

 

·         The commercialisation of the Lifeline Service referred to and where any income raised was spent.  It was confirmed that any surplus was re-invested back in the service.

·         Members were urged to get involved in the Safeguarding aspect.

·         Looked After Children – particular concerns were raised in respect of the number who became homeless and those with disabilities, over 18 years of age. 

·         The reduction in fostering grants and the changes to the contracts which now meant foster carers were classed as self-employed.  Councillor Sherrey was not aware of these changes and agreed to look into the matter further outside of the meeting.

·         The work of the Partnership and particularly the Connection Families Group and the partnership working that was taking place, with Parish Council involvement.  Working in partnership was highlighted as an important way to ensure that services continued and Members were urged to promote and encourage such partnerships.

·         It was highlighted that support in respect of Council Tax for looked after children but the support was not guaranteed when those children were moved outside of the County boundaries and the need to address this with Worcestershire County Council.  Councillor Sherrey confirmed that she would ensure that her views on this matter were heard at County.

 

Councillor Sherrey responded to a question in respect of whether any actions had been taken as part of 'Time to Change Day 2018' to help challenge the stigma of mental illness.  She advised Members that the Council’s UNISON representative had run a successful event at Parkside to which everyone had been invited, and which a number of organisations from both the public and private sector had attended, including Age UK, Act of Energy and the Priory Clinic.  Councillor Christine McDonald raised concerns in respect of NVQ training, which was no longer necessary for taxi drivers following a recommendation taken by the Licensing Committee within a report from Worcestershire Regulatory Services.  Concerns were raised that by the training no longer been deemed necessary, that the taxi drivers would not be in a position to help particular customers.  It was understood that this had been due to the cost implications of providing the training, although some Members believed that this was not the case.  Councillor Sherrey suggested that this was a matter for the Licensing Committee to consider.

 

Supporting documents: